Dear JCOGS family,
JCOGS’s 2024-2025 annual report highlights the work of so many people during the past year. We should all be proud of our JCOGS mission, our board of trustees’ strong strategy for a secure financial future, robust programming led by Rabbi David and dedicated lay members, all while reaching the milestone of 30 years as a Jewish community!
After October 7, war in Gaza and with Iran, and societal division during a tumultuous political year in the US, some communities have fared better than others. Those with strong connections and that are adaptable, like JCOGS, continue to listen, respect, care, and thrive. JCOGS is a special synagogue. You know it if you’ve been to Friday night services with Rabbi David and the Marom band or a haimish Mitzvah ceremony for one of our JCOGS youth. Perhaps you’ve joined in for the interfaith programming with our community partners, including our moving annual Holocaust remembrance, and “Quiz the Clergy;” then there is the joint preparation for an interfaith Civil Rights trip to the American South upcoming in November. You know it when our chesed volunteer, Elana Tyransky, makes sure beloved member Mel Siegel has a ride from Johnson to JCOGS for Shabbat services or the Passover Seder, and when he celebrates his 93rd birthday in style with his JCOGS family.
Here are examples of JCOGS’s vitality and the critical role JCOGS played this year as a center for Jewish life in our region: - JCOGS welcomed 34 new member families and individuals to our community, the largest single growth year for decades.
- JCOGS hosted a 30th Anniversary Celebration honoring former board president, Ron Feinstein, for over 200 guests, honorable speakers and musical performers. Jodi Silverman and Diana Lloyd chaired the event.
- Through our JCOGS Listening Project, over 50 JCOGS members engaged with each other to listen with the aim of mutual understanding–not necessarily agreement, but always with respect.
- Volunteerism is skyrocketing with a multitude of tikkun olam initiatives spurred by Alison Link’s program series “Caring for Ourselves While Caring for Our Community.” Here are some of the big stories of our year of tikkun olam at JCOGS that I think you should know about:
- Led by Anna Westervelt and Stacy Bernstein, twice each month volunteers cook meals in the JCOGS kitchen for guests at the Lamoille Community House Shelter and Good Samaritan Haven, along with Patti Rubin’s leadership providing Monday lunches at UCC Church’s Resource Center.
- With Priscilla Minkin’s chesed leadership, Mark Nash, Lynne Gedanken, Rachel Funk, Ellana Tyransky and Patti Rubin, create circles of care around vulnerable members of our JCOGS community.
- JCOGS supports the work of immigrant rights and refugee organizations in VT. Read about JCOGS’s Refugee Shabbat in the Stowe Reporter.
- The Climate Action Planning group, Sara Lourie, Deborah Black, Mich Kabay, and Karen Stewart tackle environmental issues at JCOGS such as reducing waste and promoting conservation.
- Our Pride leaders, Judith Wine, Shoshana Frieden and Debby Sherman, support our LGBTQ community.
- Our Oneg B’yachad team, led by Judith Wine, created a communal hosting model that has engaged dozens of members with preparing snacks and dishes in the JCOGS kitchen and sharing the joy of Shabbat with our community. Sign up here to host an upcoming Oneg .
- Everybody’s Attic Tag Sale, July 20, is JCOGS’s major fundraiser. Co-chairs Jodi Silverman and Wendy Levey and their dedicated team have been working since last fall on a day filled with music, food, and lots of great deals. Click here for donation drop off dates and event details.
Financially, JCOGS is well positioned at 30 years as a community. Like many 30 year olds, JCOGS is reaching financial maturity. Over a period of years our board of trustees has engaged in a responsible transition from investment by a single generous donor to grow JCOGS, including financial support for a full-time rabbi and robust religious and cultural programming, to sustaining this model perpetually with an endowment. I would like to thank Bill Scudder, board of trustees treasurer, for his tremendous leadership and JCOGS’s finance committee for its oversight through this period of transition.
Here are some of JCOGS’s major financial developments and successes of the past year: - Thanks to the work of JCOGS Endowment committee, led by chairs Diana Lloyd, Art Dorfman, and Jonathan Freedman, JCOGS surpassed 3 million in endowment pledges toward a goal of 4 million which will allow us to use endowment interest as one tool, along with membership and annual fund donations, to support our annual budget.
- JCOGS is finalizing details to partner with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, which includes the award of a Life and Legacy grant, training and support, to assist JCOGS to promote after-lifetime giving to sustain JCOGS as a vibrant Jewish community for years to come.
- JCOGS is the recipient of security grant funding from the US Non-Profit Security Grant Program and Combined Jewish Philanthropy which will help fund additional security presence at JCOGS, training, and other initiatives.
It has been a privilege to serve as president of JCOGS during a time of dynamic
growth and an explosion of volunteerism and creativity. All of this, I believe, is our community’s rebellious answer to the difficult times we are in. As the social commentator David Brooks observes, “seasons of suffering have a way of exposing the deepest part of ourselves.” This year, I heard from members of our JCOGS community who have suffered—regardless of politics or worldview. There are two paths one can take: to withdraw and become distrustful, or to engage and recommit to one’s community. This letter is filled with names of our JCOGS friends, and many others not named, who choose to use their time, talent, and treasure to make a difference and move our community forward. They are inspiring!
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